


Fireside Vows

by raidelle



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Final Fantasy XV AU, Gen, Original Female Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 06:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14586585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raidelle/pseuds/raidelle
Summary: In a few hours, Nyx’s sister is going away for her first tour of duty with the Glaives. There is one thing he would have loved to do before she left, but like the other times he tried, it would seem that it’s not going to happen.





	Fireside Vows

**Author's Note:**

> Submission for [nyxulricweek](https://nyxulricweek.tumblr.com)'s #HeroAppreciationWeek2018 on Tumblr.
> 
> (Set in the [Bottled Dreams AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14098533/chapters/32483802); this can be considered a prequel.)

“Hey.”

His voice was low and rough, as if from sleep, but Nyx Ulric barely got any shut-eye. It was perhaps two hours away from first light, when his sister would be whisked away to Astrals-knew-where for her first tour of duty with the Glaives, and as the clock ticked closer to 0600, his heart constricted more and more in his chest.

“Hey,” Naja replied without looking at him. She was perched on the edge of Lachyrte Haven, her gray-blue eyes, so much like his and yet so different, trained toward the inky blue horizon. “Couldn’t sleep?”

Nyx made a noncommittal noise as he sat down beside his sister. “You okay?” He asked after a while.

“Yeah,” Naja answered. It sounded more like a sigh than a word. Her legs were dangling off the edge of the campsite; she was swinging them idly as if she were kicking water in a pool. It was a nervous habit she’d developed since that first time they talked to a Child Welfare worker, mere hours after their parents had died in that freak car crash. He was ten and Naja had barely turned five. Fourteen years later and she has yet to grow out of the mannerism.

“Naj,” Nyx said, his voice gentle. “It’s just me. You know you can be honest with me, right?”

Naja heaved a deep sigh and turned to look at him at last. The expression in her eyes – their eyes – made his heart break. “I’m scared. This will be the farthest I’ve ever been from Galahd. From you. And we’ve never been apart for more than a few days at a time, Nyx. Ever.”

“I’m scared, too, Naj,” he admitted. “I’m terrified.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking, signing up with the Glaives,” Naja said in a small voice. She pulled up her legs and hugged them, resting her chin upon her knees. “Maybe I should just tell them I’m backing out. Let’s just enjoy a couple of days here in Galdin,” she said around a frantic giggle.

“I’m inclined to agree,” Nyx said. If he had his way, he’d never let his baby sister out of his sight. “But you’ll never forgive me and worse, you’ll never forgive yourself. So you’ll get on that boat at sunrise and do whatever it is you have to do. And then you come home.”

“Okay,” Naja said. She inhaled deeply and her breath trembled on the exhale. “Okay.” She gave him a wan smile that nonetheless brightened her eyes, even just a little.

“That’s more like it.” Nyx cheered as he ruffled Naja’s hair. “I wish you would’ve let me braid it before you cut it all off,” he added wistfully. Before she joined the Glaives, Naja had a sleek curtain of dark hair that fell almost to her waist; and while there wasn’t any rule about it, Naja had it sheared into a pixie cut immediately after receiving her uniform and dog tags. She’d shrugged it off and said it was more practical that way.

Nyx had long wanted to braid Naja’s hair for her. In Galahd, braiding someone’s hair for them meant that you were making a vow to dedicate your life to that person.

It was an ancient tradition that has been dead for decades. Even so, Nyx still wanted to do it. But Naja was as stubborn as he was. And in Galahd, you never just sat someone down and braided their hair. You had to ask, and permission must be given, and then you have to sit by a fire as you threaded a white bead into the braid to symbolize that vow.

For obvious reasons, he’d not permitted Naja to braid his hair and so Naja hadn’t permitted him to do the same to her, too. “No!” Naja had screamed at him then, with all the vehemence that a five-year-old could muster. “I don’t wanna! You’re gonna die and then I’ll be alone!”

Their parents had braided their hair for them that fateful day.

Nyx caught Naja looking at him sideways. “What?” He said with a shrug. “I’ve been asking you to let me do it for how many years now. Twelve? Thirteen? Now you’re leaving and I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to ask again.”

The sky was slowly turning into that mix of navy and dusky pink that gave everything a muted glow. It gilded his sister’s face in pale gold as she looked at him. “Here,” Naja said simply, pulling a thin clump of hair that she had pinned and hidden under the thicker parts close to her ear. “I let it grow out for about ten months. You can get around four inches, I tried it myself. That’s enough to slip a bead into right?”

“Naj,” Nyx breathed. His heart was near to bursting. He was not one to be overwhelmed by emotion, but here Nyx Ulric was, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. All because his sister had offered him a lock of hair to braid.

Naja cleared her throat and pointed to the shallow stone pit at the center of the camp. “I’ll go start the fire.”

The campsite was soon awash with a crackling orange glow, warming the crisp, cool air of near-dawn. As one, the siblings sat down beside the fire, Nyx touching Naja’s lock of hair almost reverently.

With such little hair to work on, the braid could have been finished in seconds. But Nyx took his time. Finally, he asked Naja for the bead and the traditional leather cord to secure the braid.

“There, all done.” He pulled Naja close and pressed a kiss on top of her head. If there were a couple of tears that soaked into her scalp, Naja didn’t mention them.

“I know it isn’t part of the tradition but I’m going to cut it, okay?” Naja said. “So you can keep it. I don’t want it to snag on anything or get burned or something when I go out there.”

“Of course.” Nyx said. He would have done anything for his sister. It had always been that way, but it was even more so now.

Naja flicked open a pocket knife and cut the thin rope of braided hair in one smooth stroke. “Here,” she said.

Is this what it felt like to hold your heart in your hands? Nyx wondered. He closed his eyes tight and took a deep breath. “Let’s go. It’s almost time.”

“I haven’t braided yours yet.” Naja held up another white bead between her thumb and index finger. “Please, Nyx.”

Nyx took the bead from her and pocketed it. “When you come back.” His voice sounded hoarse with tears. “When you come back, you can braid all of it.”

Naja returned from her first tour of duty after eleven months. She hopped off the ship, bruised and scarred but very much alive. Nyx ran the few feet separating them and enveloped her in a crushing hug. The warm lights of Galdin Quay beckoned them to rest, but Nyx Ulric led Naja to Lachyrte Haven; there he lit a fire and finally allowed his sister to braid a lock of his hair and, in doing so, heal his heart.


End file.
